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WHAT MATTERS THE MOST
(Comparison between different philosophies about human self and human nature)
By
JUNAID FAROOQ
Student at:National Institute of Technology Srinagar (B.Tech)
Islamic Online University (B.A in Uloom al-deen)
facebook.com/zargarjunaid
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WHAT MATTERS TH
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Question: What is the reali
the human with universe?
Founding fathers of the ph
Marx and Machiavelli.
1.(Charl
"Ifmen were rearedcan hardly be a doubt t
think it a sacred duty to
fertile daughters, and
Descent of Man and Sel
p. 99.]
Impact: The implicatio
anywhere in the univer
man with all his reason
chance. Religion, ethic
are the outcome of the
impulses. This theory
disciplines of biology,
etc
2. William McDougallTheory: Humanity is a
(natural biological pre
movers of all his action
Impact: He means that
alone and distinguish
politics, knowledge, ar
satisfaction of instincts
and his offspring and
nature. In fact, McDo
instincts.
E MOST JU
y of human self and human nature? Wha
losophies of West: Darwin, McDougall,
Darwin: (12 February 1809 19 April 1
s Darwin in 1868)
nder precisely the same conditions ashat our unmarried females would, like
kill their brothers, and mothers would
o one would think of interfering." [Cha
ction in Relation to Sex. Second Edition.
s of his theory are that no thoughtful
e. It is all random. Even the existence
, conscience and love for ideals is a mer
, knowledge, philosophy, politics and ar
ction and reaction of animal desires an
is taught all over the world in th
edicine, history, psychology, philosoph
(22 June 1871 28 November 1938):
form of animality. Man is an animal
ssure to act in a particular direction
.
the higher activities of man which ar
him from the animal, for example, r
and love of ideals etc have originate
i.e. to assure the continuation of the life
have no higher source or purpose to
gall has tried to prove that the sour
AID FAROOQ
Page 2
is the relation of
reud, Adler, Karl
882)
hive-bees, therethe worker-bees,
trive to kill their
rles Darwin. The
New York. 1882,
plan is at work
f
e
t
e
nd his instincts
) are the prime
specific to him
ligion, morality,
d in and for the
of the individual
serve in human
ce of all this is
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3. Sigmund Freud (6 May 1856 23 September 1939):Theory: Human psyche could be divided into three parts: Id
(unconscious mind), ego (conscious mind) and super-ego
(moral law of society). Unconscious mind is the actual human
personality. The conscious mind is nothing but a small portion
of the unconscious mind which has risen up to observe the
external world.
The unconscious mind contains a storm of desire which is
sexual in nature and every man and woman wishes to gratify it endlessly. So the
source of ideals for humans is sexual desire. The unconscious mind can satisfy
the sexual desires through the conscious self alone. So it forces the conscious
self to strive for sex and the conscious is obliged to do so. But the pressure from
the society prevents this. This results in a clash of Id and super-ego and the manfaces depression and anxiety. To prevent this and divert the attention of man
from his real purpose (sex), the society takes certain measures like invention of
religion, morality, philosophy, science, art etc.
Thus Freud tells us that man can achieve full satisfaction only when he stops the
unsuccessful attempts to compensate for his sexual desire (like religion). He has
to come out of the innovations of the society and fulfill his sexual desire.
Popularity: Freuds theory is a part of curriculum of universities worldwide.
Thousands of books have been written and are being written day and night on it
on the name of modern psychology. The propagation of this theory haseliminated the restrictions imposed by the society and religion on sex in the
west. The people commonly believe that these restrictions are harmful for
health, cause mental disorders and to adhere to them unscientific and illogical.
Impact: Obscenity, sex literature, pornography, sex cults, women merely a sex
object.
4. Alfred W.Adler (February 7, 1870 May 28, 1937):Theory: Adler, a student of Freud, believes that the
storm of desire which is surging in the unconscious isnot sexual love but love for self assertion. Purpose of
mans whole struggle is to fight the inferiority complex
and assert himself over others. He disdains religion,
morality, philosophy, science and art etc considering
them innovations of the society and their value and
worth as illusory. Source of ideals is the love for self
assertion.
If Freud considers man as a brute dominated by sex, Adler thinks him to be a
devil suffering from the incurable disease of asserting himself over others.
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5. Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818 14 March 1883) :Theory: There is neither mind nor Allah. The only reality is
matter. Matter passed through (physical, chemical &
biological) evolution reaching the human stage. After
reaching the human stage the evolution is that of the
economic conditions of the human society. The real purpose
of human struggle is satisfaction of the needs of food,
clothing and shelter.
When man can not satisfy these needs he invents deceptions
and play-things like Allah, religion, philosophy, politics, science, art etc to
compensate for them mentally. Economic conditions are the source for ideals.
Satisfaction of economic need remains incomplete due to moral and spiritualvalues.
Marx uses Darwins theory of evolution describing the evolution from the
beginning of life to rise of man. But Marxs theory of Historical Materialism
tries to take if further. According to him the mechanical forces, which resulted in
biological evolution, are taking the evolution further on human plane. The
climax of the evolution is a universal socialist revolution.
Impact: Marx presented socialism as a philosophy. This philosophy resulted in
communist revolution of Russia at the hands of Lenin, himself a philosopherimpressed by Marx. The shockwaves of this revolution spread throughout the
world, making nearly half of it socialist. It was believed that only socialism can
solve the economic problems of man. But time has proven it untrue.
6. Niccol di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 21June 1527):
Theory: This Italian philosopher was the founder of the
philosophy of nationalism. He gave it a form of social
philosophy, believing that the protection and progress of the
state is the greatest aim of mans life and source of his ideals.
Therefore, religion and morality must be subservient to it
and it is legitimate, even necessary, for a ruler to employ perfidy, treachery and
cruelty to whatever extent he can if the interests of the state demand so.
According to Machiavelli, the only importance of religion is the emotional
support which the state authorities can get for whatever they do to strengthen
the state.Machiavelli explains repeatedly that religion is man-made, and that thevalue of religion lies in its contribution to social order and the rules of morality
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must be dispensed if security required it. While fear of God can be replaced by
fear of the prince, if there is a strong enough prince, Machiavelli felt that having
a religion is in any case especially essential to keeping a republic in order. For
Machiavelli, a truly great prince can never be conventionally religious himself,
but he should make his people religious if he can.
Impact: Machiavelli's ideas had a profound impact on political leaders
throughout the modern west, helped by the new technology of the printing press
and media. Scholars have argued that Machiavelli was a major indirect and
direct influence upon the political thinking of the Founding Fathers of the United
States: Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson.
The impacts of the Machiavelli's ideas can be felt by observing the existence of
the national states in West and the methods of the European politicians and
leaders and their Asiatic and African followers for its protection and progress inwhich they treat other nations cruelly in different ways in the name of religion,
morality, virtue, civilization, human justice, nobility, freedom, war against
terrorism etc. All this is the result of teachings and preachings of this
philosopher.
Falsehood on the part of politicians is considered an art named as diplomacy,
statesmanship and propaganda. Every national state safeguards its own
interests, damaging the interests of other nations for this purpose. Jealousy and
hatred are common among nations. Even if they believe in Allah/religion, their
claim is nominal and superficial. The Muslim World divided into a number of
small nation states testifies to that.
!
]
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Dr Mohammad Rafiuddin
Dr Mohammad Rafiuddin,born in Jammu in 1904, is considered to be one of the
greatest muslim philosophers in the 20th century. He
passed Intermediate Examination in Science ,Honours
in Persian, got Masters in Arabic (1929), Ph.D in
Philosophy (1949) and D.Litt in Educational
Philosophy (1965). In his early career he taught
Arabic and Persian in Sri Pratap College, Srinagar
(1929-32) and Prince of Wales College , Jammu (1933-
46) where he wrote his widely acclaimed book "
Ideology of the Future". He was selected as Principal
of Sri Karan Singh College, Mirpur in 1946 where he worked for one year. He served
as Research officer in Department of Islamic Reconstruction Pakistan from 1948 to
1949 and Institute of Islamic Culture from 1950 to 1953. He remained Director of
Iqbal Academy Pakistan from 1953 to 1965. After his retirement from Iqbal
Academy he founded All Pakistan Islamic Education Congress in 1966. In
Novemeber 1969 he met a fatal road accident in Karachi. He was inspired by Iqbal
and was the greatest interpreter of him. He also inspired Dr. Israr Ahmad, who
acknowledged being benefitted a lot from his books, especially Ideology of the
future and Quran aur Ilm -e- Jadeed.
His important contributions to Muslim thought include:
Books in English:
1) Ideology of the future
2) Manifesto of Islam
3) First Principles of Education
4) Fallacy of Marxism
5) The Meaning and Purpose of Islamic Research
Books in Urdu:
1) Quran aur Ilm -e- Jadeed
2) Hikmat-e-Iqbal
Periodicals, Journals :
1) Hikmat-e-Quran
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2) Islamic Education
An article on bebasi ka aalam by Dr M Rafiudeen:
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The Analysis of Human Nature by Dr Muhammad Rafi-ud-Din
The Analysis of human nature two levels of natural human desires
We now need to analyse in detail what mans nature means and what is the
character of his natural love? Mans nature means his instinctive desires. They havetwo levels as follows.
a. The Lower Desires of Man
Firstly, the desires on the animals or biological level, e.g. feeding, sex, fear, or dislike
of things which are harmful to the maintenance of life and liking for things which
aid in its maintenance and are favorable for it etc. These Desires of man are
common to him and the animals below him in the scale of evolution because man is
also an animal, though a rational one. The Purpose of these desires is to enable man
to preserve his life and race. Therefore they have an internal biological compulsionwhich compels him to seek their satisfaction. If this completion had not been there
in these desires, man would have ignored them because of which life and that of his
race would have been in danger. These desires of man, which have an internal
biological compulsion and are common to him and the animals, have been given the
name of instincts.
If man only had these desires in him, there wouldnt have been need for any
prophets to satisfy them because he would also have satisfied them as does an
animal under compulsion. Then, why should man have been a human being; he
would have been only an animal and called no more than an animal.
b. The Higher Desires of Man
Secondly, those desire which are of a level higher than that of the biological level. It
is this level of his desires which differentiates man from the animal. It is the Special
privilege of man which is not shared by other animals. The desires of this level are
not biological but physiological in nature. In other words, their aim is not the
development of the body but that of the soul or the human self. All the desires on
this level are sub-ser-vi-cent to one desire alone. Thus it will be correct to say that
there is virtually only one desire on this level. This desire takes the form of an
intense love for a beautiful ideal (i.e. an ideal to which a person may ascribe the
limit or beauty and perfection, whether it may exist in it or not).
(Thus Dr M Rafiudeen says that the love of ideals is the basic, greatest and intrinsic
desire of human self. It is not the outcome of Darwins chance, McDougalls instincts,
Freuds sex, Marxs hunger or Machiavellis nationalism. Love of Ideals overpowers
them all. This can be observed in the fact that a man is ready to sacrifice all these
for the sake of his ideal.. Junaid )
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Qualities of An Idealby Dr Muhammad Rafi-ud-Din
What are the actual qualities of the ideal which man may take as his beloved? The
answer to this question is contained in man's nature itself or in the nature itself or
in the nature of his urge for love. This urge can only be satisified by ideal which is
free in its qualities of every element that man can describe as a defect from an
angle, for defect is the enemy of love. Human nature can not love an ideal with the
awareness that it is defective. It can love an imperfect ideal too but only as long as
its defect remains hidden from the human eye and it sees nothing but perfection in
it. On the Contrary, man's beloved ideal must possess all those qualities up to the
highest degree of perfection to which he may be attributing or may attribute beauty.
Then, its beauty must be unlimitied, for If there is a limit to it, the human nature is
such that it is satiated with it, and once satiated with it, and once satiated, grows
weary of it. One of its reasons is that man's natural love is meant for an ideal whose
beauty is unlimited. Moreover, that ideal must be such that no one else shares itsqualities and excellence to even the smallest extent because human nature can love
only one and not two at the same time
Allah has not put for any man two hearts inside his body. Surah Al Ahzaab Ayat 4
Then since man is himself alive, he cannot take for his ideal anything which is
dead. To be dead is a defect. Moreover, the life of this ideal must be eternal, ever
lasting and never subject to destruction. A Persian poet says :
Ishq aan Zinda gazzeen khh baqeest
Waz sharab-i janfizaiyat saqeet
(Choose the love of that Alive who is immortal and gives you to drink a life
giving/invigorating wine)
Its reason is that if it can ever die, it is potentially dead even to day. Then, it is
neccesary that it must posssess, upto the highest degree of perfection , all the
attributes of life with which man is familiar in his own case. This means that it is
capable of hearing, seeing, knowing, is well aware, understands man's everything,
knows about his love, can appreciate it and respond to it. Human nature can love
only such personalities as is itself capable of love, that is to say, it is loving. Then
man also wishes that his ideal must have all the authorities in his hand i.e. it must
be all powerful. Otherwise, someone else will share its love through there is
absolutely no room in his heart for any one else. Again, his ideal must be his creator
and that of the whole universe becaues if the whole universe including his whole
person has come into being of itself and is out of control of his ideal, then why
should he show any interest in it and adopt it as his ideal. In such a case, he can
even claim equality with it. But man's nature does not need a peer or partner. On
the contarary, it needs a being which possesses all the glory, greatness and
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grandeur much more than that. That is not all. He wishes that his ideal must have
certain likes and dislikes and some will or purpose to be achieved so that he may
fulfill it and thus gain pleasure out of its service and obedience. Without this his
love does not find an out-let. Then, that ideal must not be powerless so that
whoever may wish may oppose its will and it may be unable to punish him. Itsreason is that if its powerless, while its lovers will carry out its will, its opponents
will undo its endeavors with ease and impunity with the result that its purpose will
never be achieved and its lovers will also consider obeying, serving and loving it as
a useless task thinking that their ideal is a weak and powerless being which is
completely unworthy of love. Therefore, along-side the qualities of beauty, man's
ideal must also possess the attributes of power, such as wrath, anger and revenge
otherwise it will also not have the qualities of beauty
(Extract from "The Essence of Islam by Dr Muhammad Rafi-ud-Din")
The Ideal is a call for action. It impels the self to change the actual
conditions in the world to suit itself and its ideal. If a self-conscious man does
not oppose the resistance of the ruling wrong ideal with the maximum of his
power, which is, of course, always a harmonious combination of courage,
prudence, planning co-operation and discipline, he has given himself up to a
wrong ideal, has reconciled himself to a slavery and has sacrificed the growth
of self-consciousness.
- Ideology of the Future - Dr Muhammad Rafi-ud-Din